Best Frequent Flyer Award Redemptions to the Caribbean and Central America (2019)

  Award Ticket Strategies

Usually, when there is regular ("saver") award space available on a flight, you can book your ticket using many different types of frequent flyer points. For example, if you want to book a frequent flyer ticket on American airlines, you use any of two dozen different Oneworld frequent flyer programs.

Each frequent flyer program has a it's own award chart, and may require a different number of miles to book the exact same trip. They also have different rules about stopovers, fees, and fuel surcharges. That means that, for any given trip, some programs are less expensive than others.

If you have Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou Points, Membership Rewards, Marriott Points, or Diners Club points you can transfer them to many different frequent flyer programs. As a result, you can take advantage of each program's sweet spots, and book your trip for less than the normal number of points. 2. Choose the Least Expensive Frequent Flyer Program for Your Ticket

Periodically, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Rewards, Venture Points and Marriott Rewards offer transfer bonuses that give you extra miles when you transfer your points to a specific frequent flyer program. This temporarily reduces the number of points you need to make a redemption, potentially changing which program is your best option for booking an award. See Take Advantage of Transfer Bonuses to Get More Value from Your Reward Points for more information or visit Frequent Miler’s Current Transfer Bonuses page for a list of current promotions. TravelStrategies:*Best Caribbean Frequent Flyer Award Options/Box

Good options to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean

Normal round trip awards to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean require 35,000 miles in coach , and 60,000 miles in business class. However, better deals are available with the right program. As usual, you’ll need to pick the best option, based on the airlines that have award space, and the type of points that you have.

Program	Transfer From	Economy	Business	Fly On
Turkish (Mexico, Lesser Antilles, Bermuda)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	20	30	Star Alliance
Turkish Airlines offers amazing award prices on Star Alliance (United) flights to Mexico, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Bermuda. These award prices are only valid on direct flights.
Singapore (Costa Rica, Mexico)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	24	89	Alaska
You can get some great bargains when you book Alaska Airline flights with Singapore Airline miles. However, these rates are only available on nonstop flights. Round trip awards from Los Angeles to Costa Rico only requires 24,000 Singapore miles, as do flights from West Coast to Mexico.
Aegean (Mexico, Caribbean)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	25	42	Star Alliance
Aegean requires the fewest miles of any Star Alliance program (United) for flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, and the cheapest business class tickets of any airline. (Flights to Central America are much more expensive.) Unfortunately, they only partner with Marriott.
Flying Blue (Mexico, Lesser Antilles)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	??	-	SkyTeam, Alaska
Flying Blue treats Mexico, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao as part of the North American zones. Therefore, the often require fewer miles for coach tickets, and can take advantage on SkyTeam (Delta, Aeromexico) flights. You also get a free stopover. Unfortunately, they use dynamic award pricing, rather than an award chart, so you never know how many miles they are going to require.
Korean (Mexico, Puerto Rico, USVI)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	25	45	SkyTeam
Korean treats Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the USVI as part of the North American zone. Therefore, they require less miles for both coach and business class tickets. Only round trip awards, but you do get a free stopover.
SAS (Mexico, Central America)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	25	50	Star Alliance
SAS requires the fewest miles of any Star Alliance program for flights to Central America. (Flights to the Caribbean are much more expensive.)  Unfortunately, they don’t partner with any of the major credit card companies.
American (Off Peak)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	25	50	American
If you are flying off-peak on American airlines, American’s own frequent flyer program requires the fewest miles of any zone-based program.  However, if you closer to the destination, you may be able to spend fewer miles with a distance-based program (see below).
American	MR UR TY C1 Mar	30	50	Oneworld, Alaska
American requires less than the normal amount for flights on Oneworld airlines.  However, if you closer to the destination, you may be able to spend fewer miles with a distance-based program.
ANA (Mexico)	MR UR TY C1 Mar	30	55	Star Alliance
ANA offers slightly cheaper award tickets on Star Alliance to Mexico (but not to the Caribbean and Central America).  You also get a free stopover. Other options listed above are less expensive, but ANA partners with Membership Rewards.
Flying Blue	MR UR TY C1 Mar	???	???	SkyTeam, Alaska
Sometimes requires the fewest miles of any SkyTeam program to the region, except for Puerto Rico and the USVI, which are less expensive with Korean. You get a free stopover on round trip tickets. However, they use dynamic pricing, rather than an award chart, so you never know exactly how many miles you'll need.
Egyptair	MR UR TY C1 Mar	35	50	Star Alliance
Egyptair is another option that requires fewer than normal miles for business class tickets on Star Alliance. But, Aegean is usually a cheaper option to Mexico and the Caribbean.
Asiana	MR UR TY C1 Mar	35	55	Star Alliance
Asiana has slightly cheaper than normal business class awards on Star Alliance. Save miles with distance based programs Several Oneworld frequent flyer programs calculate the required number of miles by distance, rather than having a fixed price based on the regions you are travelling between. These programs can require far less miles when you are flying short distances, especially if you are crossing a region boundary, like you usually do when you fly from the US to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz. For example, you can fly round trip from Miami to the Cayman Islands for only 11,000 Iberia points in economy, or 22,000 in Business (compared to American Airline’s normal price of 30,000 / 50,000 points). Or you can fly round trip from Miami to almost anywhere in Central America, or from anywhere in the Southeast to Cancun, for only 15,000 British Airways points in coach, and 30,000 in business. For 22,000 British Airways points in coach, and 44,000 in business, you can fly round-trip from Miami to the furthest regions of the Caribbean, or anywhere in Central American or northern South America; or from New York City to most of the Caribbean. And 26,000 British Airways points will pay for a nonstop round-trip award from anywhere in the United States to anywhere in Mexico. Program Transfer From Economy Business Fly On LATAM MR UR TY C1 Mar 7.5+ 15+ Oneworld If you have Starpoints, you can take advantage of the lowest possible prices for short flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Round trip flights to destinations up to 350 miles each way require just 7,500 points in Economy and 15,000 points in Business. Flights between 351 and 500 miles are 10,000 / 20,000. Flights between 501 and 650 miles are 11,000 / 22,500. Flights between 651 and 850 miles are 12,500 / 25,000. After that, flights require fewer miles on British Airways or region-based programs. Like British Airways, you’ll need to pay for each connecting flight separately. Iberia MR UR TY C1 Mar 11+ 22+ Oneworld, Alaska Iberia is cheaper than British Airways for round-trip flights of less than 1000 miles each way, requiring just 11-12,000 points in economy, and 22-24,000 points in business. Connections don’t add much distance to the overall price, but one-way flights are much more expensive in comparison.   British Airways MR UR TY C1 Mar 15+ 30+ Oneworld, Alaska British Airways is typically the best option for shorter flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, that are over 500 miles or when you aren't flying round-trip. Destinations less than 1,150 miles away require 15,000 / 30,000 points round trip. Destinations between 1,150 and 2,000 miles require 22,000 / 44,000 points, and between 2,000 and 3,000 miles require 26,000 / 78,000 Avios. But, if you make a connection, you’ll need to pay separately for both segments, so another program may wind up being cheaper. Cathay Pacific MR UR TY C1 Mar 20+ 40+ Oneworld, Alaska Cathay Pacific isn't as good of an option as British Airways, Iberia, and LATAM, but is a good option if you have ThankYou points.  You need 20,000 / 40,000 points for round trip flights to destinations up to 750 miles away. For longer flights, you are usually better off with a region-based program. Award Tickets 101: The Basics 2. Choose the Least Expensive Frequent Flyer Program for Your Ticket Stretch Your Frequent Flyer Miles by Taking Advantage of Great Award Redemption Options TravelStrategies:*Best Caribbean Frequent Flyer Award Options/Page